For various reasons, birefringent properties of materials is of great interest in the scientific and engineering community. One conventional method for measuring birefringence is the Brace-Kohler compensator method, which is widely used in the industry to measure low levels of birefringence. Unfortunately, due to the system model for Brace-Kohler compensators, that method introduces measurement errors that are inherent to the presumptions underlying the model.
For at least this reason, a need exists in the industry for measuring birefringence with greater accuracy.